Kevin Métallier - Dusty Hope. The call of the sandy slopes

192 pages
Text(s) by Damien Castera
Foreword by Fielding Mellish
Photographs by Kevin Métallier
Designed by Elena Bidnenko
H x L cm 
Language: French, English
Hardback
Publisher: Snap Collective
2024

From Beirut to Jakarta, Tehran to Havana, Lima to Bombay, the Namibian desert to Icelandic glaciers, Red Square to Corcovado, photographer Kevin Métallier has been reporting from the four corners of the globe at a frenetic pace for over two decades.

This prestidigitator of the moment has dedicated much of his life to documenting subcultures such as skateboarding and surfing, both of which he is passionate about. Working with an impressive number of specialty magazines around the world and accumulating assignments for iconic brands, he quickly gained international recognition. With Dusty Hope. The call of the sandy slopes, he signs a new opus entirely dedicated to an improvised surf trip through the desert of Baja California.

Accompanied by his two acolytes, professional surfers Edouard Delpero and Damien Castera, they cross the Mexican peninsula in search of Pacific swells. A poetic wandering along straight and endless tracks, where the horizon always succumbs to dust and foam. Here, the burning lights of the desert waltz with the deep, sharp shadows of the cacti, while the reflections of the zenithal sun exalt the thick grain of the often veiled film. The photographer delights in sublimating low points and recounting non-events with an unsettling lyricism. On the surf and action side, as Kevin likes to describe it: "performance takes a back seat, and it's the aesthetics of these avant-garde choreographies that fascinate and obsess me. This ballet of disjointed bodies pushes imbalance to the point of paroxysm, constantly flirting with the bubbling ocean in a dreamlike festival of light". Welcome to this illusory, dusty quest, where Damien Castera's profound narration supports Kevin Métallier's poetic photography, all in the service of a veritable hymn to travel and discovery.